Kathleen Palmer is the Chief of Staff for Orange County Public Schools which is the 10th largest school district in the nation. She holds a Master’s Degree in Administration and Supervision from the University of Central Florida and her Bachelor’s Degree in Education was earned at the University of Wisconsin. Thirty years ago, Ms. Palmer and her husband moved from Wisconsin to Orlando where she has continued her career as a professional educator/administrator with OCPS since 1983.

Ms. Palmer taught at the middle and junior high school levels for thirteen years before beginning her administrative career. She has worked as an Assistant Principal at Maitland and Howard Middle Schools and as a Principal at Maitland and Discovery Middle Schools.

In 2000, Ms. Palmer became an Executive Area Director working in the West and East Learning Communities supporting the schools and Area Superintendent in those learning communities.

She became the Chief of Staff in 2010 supporting the Superintendent, working with School Board members and supervising the Human Resources, Employee Relations, Legislative and Labor Relations, and Public Relations Departments within her division.

Chris is a First Vice President and Client Advisor on SunTrust’s Legal Specialty Group and has been with SunTrust for 11 years. Chris focuses entirely on serving the local legal community and specializes in taking care of the comprehensive financial needs of law firms and their individual attorneys. In serving law firms, Chris provides the firm with proactive advice surrounding banking, cash management, lending and numerous other specific needs tied to a firms daily business. With his attorneys, Chris provides full scale financial planning, investment and trust services, survivorship planning, lending and banking guidance to better position each client toward their individual goals. He is a Registered Paraplanner with the College of Financial Planning and holds numerous securities licenses, including his series 7, 66, Life, Health and Annuity Insurance license and is also a licensed Realtor.

Chris holds both his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Central Florida. He lives in the Moss Park area with his wife Connie and two sons Logan and Alex.

Bruce Phillips is a software developer and business consultant with an emphasis in accounting. He is a true native of Florida, growing up in Bronson, Florida. During his early years Bruce became a die-hard Gator fan and attended most of the University of Florida home football games. Bruce attended Central Florida Community College in Ocala completing his Associate Arts degree in Computer Science, and in 1986 he received a Bachelor’s Degree in System Science with a minor in Business from the University of West Florida, in Pensacola.

After being courted by many of the big businesses around the country, especially big oil, Bruce opted for a position as a programmer / analyst with BellSouth in Birmingham, Alabama. This position involved for programming and designing telephone bills for large users such as banks and various large businesses.

It was in Birmingham where Bruce met the love of his life, Mary Ann Etzler. She was a longtime resident of Florida attending law school at Cumberland Law School, but determined to return to Florida to practice law. Once back in Florida, Bruce and Mary Ann started their new careers: Bruce with AT&T and Mary Ann practicing law.

Currently, Bruce is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) at Davis, Grim PA working as a pubic auditor. In addition, Bruce is the president of Mariners Village Master Association, he sits on his Homeowners Association board, and sits on the City of Orlando Citizens Review Panel. Bruce enjoys all sports but particularly, college football, spending time with his wife and children, reading political spy thrillers, and all other things political.

Oliver W. “Ollie” Phipps is a University of Central Florida graduate and former U.S. Air Force OSI Special Agent. He has been in the investigation industry for almost 30 years. During his four years with OSI, Ollie served with detachments in Austin, TX, Manila, PI and Cocoa Beach, FL. While the OSI was responsible for major investigations into crime and counter-intelligence, Ollie specialized in fraud inquiries. He worked cases with all the federal law enforcement agencies and many state and local ones as well.

As a Florida state-licensed Private Investigator, Ollie supervised and conducted a variety of investigations, specializing in litigation support. He has performed hundreds of disability cases, featuring both videotaped and digital still photographic evidence. Ollie has also completed many domestic surveillances, background and asset checks, discharged accident investigations, directed due diligence evaluations and carried out undercover work in a variety of matters.

Ollie is also a partner of American Security Systems International, Inc., an investigative firm based in Asia. They offer due diligence and intellectual property protection inquiries and enforcement services. Long-term clients include Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Omega, Cartier, and Adidas, among others.

Ollie’s firm, AVPE, has been an Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce member since its inception 15 years ago. Ollie has been a member of two trade associations, FAPI since its founding five years ago and FALI for the last ten years and is currently on the board. Ollie has been a Rotarian for ten years and served on the board for two.